Religious Room (Hachder - Istadh)

Up to 1830' the cheder (Istadh) was virtually the only educational institution

available to the Iraqi Jewish child. It is remarkable that the Istadh continued

to exist until the end of the World War I, when it functioned only as a 

preschool morning institution for the teaching of Hebrew. However, in the

days of  its prime, the Istadh played a leading role in the education of

children (boys and girls). Girls were not required to study Torah, but some 

parents were known to teach their daughters:"As for the girls, the Talmudic

assumption usually applied that they were not to taught Torah and writing,

but sometimes a way was found of permitting them to learn" (Ben-Jacob. A,

1966).

Education of the Children in the Jewish Tradition

The Jewish community in Babylonia considered the education of its children

a matter of the highest importance. What it still more remarkable is that the 

matter of study, there were no distinctions between rich and poor; all studied 

the same material with the same zeal. In fact, one of the famous Talmudic

saying has it: "Watch over the children of the poor, for out of them will

knowledge come forth".  The Torah itself includes the injunctions: "and thou

shalt teach them diligently to thy children" (Dvarim, 6,7), "And you shall teach

them your children" (Dvarim 11, 19). According to the Torah, the main respon-

sibility for the education of children rested with the father (Masechet  Kidushin,

29,1).

The first program of study for young children was mentioned in the Mishnah,

and was based on the principle of gradual learning, from the easy to the

difficult: "A five year-old to the Mikra, a ten year-old to the Mishnah, a thirteen

year-old to  Bar-Mitsva, a fifteen year-old to Gemara..." (Mishna, Masechet Avot, 

chp. 5,21).

The Istadh was in the house of the teacher (stayee), in which he and his family

lived. He put aside a room and he supplied all its needs.This room accommo-

dated up to fifty children, or more, ranging from 4 to 12 (Ben-Jacob, A,1966). 

The room was meagre and sparse, stifling dark and damp. The furniture in the 

room is plain: low and short benches without back rests. The teacher sat in the 

middle, on a chair upon which he placed a small pillow. Before him stood small

table and on it, a siddur and the Chumash, with his special reed  pen. Next to 
the siddur was a stick that the stayee used to hit the children, when necessary 

(sassoon , D.S., M. bennayahu (ed.), 1956).

The stayee would arrange the children into groups and his assistants were in

charge of discipline, helping children who were having difficulties, bringing 

them from their homes to the cheder and back. The assistant was called the

"Chalifa" (substitute) in Arabic. One of the means of accepted education and 
punishment in the cheder, was hitting the child with strap, stick, or ruler, as 

punishment for lateness, or absence, for lack of concentration and chattering,

and more. The parents were also partners in this "educational method".

The Program and Contentsof Study in the Istadh

The program of study in the traditional cheder usually based only on religious

studies. The teaching of  the Hebrew alphabet and how to read the syllables, 
was done by the stayee with the help of special boards, on which he wrote the 
letters along with the dots (Ashtor, 1961). 
With the rapid changes that are taking place in the methods of teaching, it might 
not be out of place to record here the quaint manner in which the alphabet was 
taught to the young. This was the way of picturing each letter:

א-  That which has four heads
ב-  A window
ג-   That which has a wing
ד-  A hatchet
ה-  She that has her leg cut off
ו  -  A needle
ז -  A pin
ח-  She that has both her legs sound
ט-  She that has her leg in her inside

י -  Your younger sister
כ-   A round window
ל-   The camel
מ-   She whose head in a raisin
נ-    A hook
ס-   A circle
ע-   That which has two heads
פ-   She that has a raisin in her mouth
צ-   Two heads and is bent
ק-   He that has a long leg
ר-   That which is curved
ש-   He that has three heads
ת-   She that has a crooked leg 

sources: Sassoon (1949).

In the 19th - 20th centuries, new and more modern frameworks were 
established in Babylonia, and this included the"Midrash Talmud Torah"
and the "kol Yisrael Haverim" schools, in which more general education 
was given along, with the teaching Hebrew and Arabic. In any event, a 
learning framework in the style cheder still exists in the ultra-Orthodox 
communities. (Ben Jacob, A. 1966).